Schedule of Events

12:00 pm - 1:30 pm Lunch on your own (options within building and nearby)

1:30 pm - 4:00 pm Afternoon workshop with June Gould

4:15 – 5:15 pm Open readings

June Gould, What Are Women Writing About Anyway?

Join June Gould, Ph.D. in a full day of inventing, constructing, and crafting themulti-cultural narratives, stories, and poetry already living deep within your life. This hands-on workshop will explore women’s writing, women’s images, and women’s personal and political concerns.

Leave with several pieces that you’re ready to share. Electrify yourself while at the same time discover how IWWG writers can be a supportive and inspiring community. There will be writing examples and guided writing exercises.

Women are the vessels of story, history, mythology, action and emotion. Tapping into our poems and stories, we will mine and construct our significant female lives.

To quote Simone de Beauvoir: "One is not born a woman, one becomes one.” Writing about ourselves will help us become more than we were before.

June Gould, Ph.D is the author of The Writer in All of Us: Improving Your Writing through Childhood Memories, EP Dutton; Beyond the Margins: Rethinking the Art and Craft of Writing;co -author of a book of Holocaust poetry, Counting the Stones and author of the novel In the Shadow of Trains. June has given readings at The 92nd Street Y (NY), The Holocaust Museum (Washington, DC) the Jewish Museum and Yeshiva Museums (NY) and at libraries, synagogues, churches, universities and bookstores throughout the USA, and in Greece and Canada. She has been an IWWG workshop leader for over 25 years. She gives on-going Advanced Writing Workshops in New York City at Poets House and Advanced weekend writing conferences at the Guest House, Chester, CT. June also facilitates and leads book groups. She has published poetry in numerous journals including the Jewish Women’s Literary Annual.

Mary Beth Coudal is an award-winning journalist, blogger, and copywriter. Her essays have appeared in the New York Times, Salon.com, and Self magazine. At the blog To Pursue Happinessat mbcoudal.com, she asks the big questions in her pursuit of happiness. For fun, Coudal is a teacher, actress, and mixed media artist.

11:15 am - 12:15 pmAuthor Panel

12:15 - 1:30 pmBook Fair

12:15 pm - 2:00 pm Lunch on your own (options within building and nearby)

2:00 - 3:00 pmMeet the Agents Panel

3:10 - 5:00 pmMeet the Agents Pitch Sessions

2:30 - 4:30 pmThe Story Beyond the Book: Why Branding with Integrity Matters More Than Ever with Jeffrey Davis

Jeffrey Davis,The Story Beyond the Book: Why Branding with Integrity Matters More Than Ever

Talk of platform and branding confounds authors, new and veteran. Yet when approached in the right way, branding can be a dynamic, rewarding process for authors and their audiences. In this interactive workshop, you will:

learn what branding is and why it matters now, not after you're published

learn how branding with integrity gives you agency and authority of your writing life & career

own the ideas you value and that your book reflects as part of your brand

start to raise and lead a valuable conversation that your creative work is part of

foreground aspects of your author personality as part of your brand

discover ways to build up and engage a community of readers

A combination of interactive exercises, author examples, coaching, and guided conversation, this workshop will give you concrete ideas and starting steps to own your brand and brand story now.

JEFFREY DAVIS is founder of Tracking Wonder Consultancy, where he has helped his clients earn handsome book deals, land in Oprah's arms, shape captivating brands & books, and build out fulfilling business models. He has taught his signature approaches to creativity, writing, and branding at numerous universities, conferences, and centers around the world. An author, speaker, and online columnist for Psychology Today, he is in dogged pursuit of what helps creatives thrive amidst constant challenge and change. He lives in a farmhouse in the Hudson Valley with his wife and two girls.

Member Author Panel and Book Fair

Our published member authors discuss the process of writing and publishing their book. Followed by a book fair where you may chat with the authors and purchase their books.

Stop at the Red Apple is the colorful story of the Red Apple Rest, the landmark restaurant on NY Route 17 en route to the Catskills. Founder Reuben Freed's daughter takes us on a 50-year ride back to the eatery that served over a million customers annually.

This book, set in Freetown, Sierra Leone, tells the story about 43 year old Sara Moses who happens to find life’s purpose where she least expects. Following the untimely death of her fiancé and her unborn daughter, her life becomes empty...Sara channels her energy by forming a reforestation society and encourages an entire nation to replant the forest.

Frazier untangles twenty years of violent sleepwalking, sleep terrors, and insomnia that affected every area of her life and, in particular, her intimate relationships. She faces and recovers from intergenerational trauma, alcoholism and mental illness – with hard won love as her reward.

It's a bad day for Sophie Carter when she stumbles across a dead body in the woods. But when the suspected murderer turns out to be a leather-clad vagabond who died in 1889, her carefully controlled quiet life explodes.

The Cusp of Dreadfulness: Fifteen Seasons in Tierra del Fuego and Patagonia

Memoir/Travel

2016, iUniverse

This memoir recounts the struggles of a geologist as she navigates through the wilderness at the tip of South America. Her stories include crossing the Andes on foot, facing military interrogation, rescuing an injured child, and repelling a rapist, which brings on severe agoraphobia.

Set in the 1960s, Ashley Hall examines the secrets and sorrows of the residents who live in the apartments on one floor of a Queens, New York, apartment building. It relates the events of the 1960s through the eyes of a cast of diversified characters, and uncovers their regrets, their joys, and their capacity to love and accept even the most unlikely strangers.

Highlighting the necessity of educating the women of America about the dangers of heart disease as their number on killer, this dramatic memoir takes the reader inside the trauma of open heart surgery, using the actual surgeon’s notes, prose, letters and her own poetry. It shows how her use if integrative medicine modalities taught her that she had to heal herself after the surgeons rebuilt her heart.

Meet the Agents Session

Panel session starts with agent introductions, followed by a discussion of industry trends, potholes and common errors by new authors, agent expectations when listening to a pitch, and what increases the chance that an agent will find a pitch intriguing. Appointments for the pitch session are on a first-come, first-served basis. You will have up to 10 minutes of one-on-one time with the agents for whom you've signed up. Link to sign-up sheet will be emailed to you after registration.

Bio:Eric Myers joined Dystel and Goderich Literary Management in 2015 after thirteen years at Spieler Agency. A graduate of UCLA and the Sorbonne, Eric entered publishing as a journalist and author. His books include Screen Deco: A Celebration of High Style in Hollywood, Forties Screen Style: A Celebration of High Pastiche in Hollywood, and Uncle Mame: The Life of Patrick Dennis, all published by St. Martin’s Press. His writing has also appeared in The New York Times Magazine and Arts and Leisure sections, as well as Time Out, Variety, Opera News, and Art and Auction. As an agent, Eric has a strong affinity for Young Adult and Middle Grade fiction, as well as adult non-fiction, especially in the areas of history, biography, psychology, health and wellness, mind/body/spirit, and pop culture. He also loves a good thriller, and is open to memoir from authors who already have strong platforms. Among his authors are Chris Grabenstein (Escape From Mr. Lemoncello’s Library), Lydia Kang (Control and Catalyst), MAD MEN cast member Bryan Batt (She Ain’t Heavy; She’s My Mother), Tracey Goessel (The First King of Hollywood: The Life of Douglas Fairbanks), Simon Gervais (The Thin Black Line), Kym Brunner (the upcoming Flip the Bird) and former East German spy Jack Barsky (the upcoming Deep Undercover).

Bio: Ayesha Pande has worked in the publishing industry for over twenty years. Before becoming an agent Ayesha was a senior editor at Farrar Straus & Giroux. She has also held editorial positions at HarperCollins and Crown Publishers. She is a member of AAR (Association of Author’s Representatives), PEN, the Asian American Writer’s Workshop, and sits on the advisory board of the German Book Office. She has attended numerous writing conferences and has taught college level courses in editing. She holds a master’s degree from Columbia University. Her interests are wide-ranging and include literary as well as popular fiction, young adult, women’s, African-American and international fiction. She is also seeking authors of nonfiction, including biography, history, economics, popular culture, cultural commentary, memoir, and graphic novels.

Jennifer Richards, Over the River Public Relations. Expertise: Ways in which authors can establish platform and grow fan base; publicity-based questions authors should ask publishers when they are in the process of deciding who would be the best fit. http://www.overtheriverpr.com/

Bio: Jennifer Richards landed her first publicity job at Random House, two weeks after graduating from Syracuse University. Since then, she’s been happily ensconced in PR for nearly thirty years. Before co-founding OTRPR, Jennifer ascended to Publicity Director at St. Martin’s Paperbacks and then served as Associate Director of Publicity at The Ballantine Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc. In her fifteen years with OTRPR, Jennifer has managed media campaigns for emerging publishing houses, such as Three Rooms Press, Coffeetown Press, and Vanguard Books. She has worked on a wonderfully eclectic potpourri of genres including biographies (Eye on the Struggle by James McGrath Morris), literary fiction (Light of the Diddicoy by Eamon Loingsigh), health (Chef Interrupted by Trevis Gleason), cookbooks (Zoë Francois & Jeff Hertzberg’s Artisan Pizza and Flatbread), and entertainment (Fortune in My Eyes by David Rothenberg), to name a few. A single mother of two teens and a Great Pyrenees, Jennifer enjoys spending time baking cookies, mixing cocktails, digging in her flower garden, camping, sailing, and working on her ever-expanding pile of craft projects.

Bio: Janet Rosen worked as associate book editor at Glamour and the senior books and fiction editor at Woman before turning to agenting at Sheree Bykofsky Associates, where she represents a range of nonfiction and a limited amount of fiction. She has been the president of the NYC chapter of the Women’s National Book Association., and her writing has appeared in Glamour, Publishers Weekly, Paper, and other print and online publications. During off hours, Janet writes and performs comedy and has been featured in the Marshalls Women in Comedy Festival.

Bio: Regina Ryan founded her independent literary agency company 35 years ago. Prior to that she was editor-in-chief of Macmillan Adult Books, the first woman ever to hold that position in a major hardcover publishing house. Before that she was an editor at Alfred A. Knopf. Her strong editorial background—first as an editor and later as a book producer—is very useful in helping her authors develop their projects in the most salable way. Regina’s many years of experience in the business and her extensive contacts help place their books with the best houses for their projects. Honors: #1 Dealmaker in nonfiction—Publisher's Marketplace, September 2015. Who's Who in America; Who's Who Among American Women; Who's Who in the World.

Registration Packages

Weekend: Includes all workshops and sessions on both days.

Saturday Only: Admittance to June Gould's all-day workshop, What are Women Writing About Anyway?

Sunday Only: Admittance to Mary Beth Coudal's workshop Making Spaces/Going Places; Author Panel and Book Fair; and CHOICE OF 1) Agent Panel discussion and opportunity to pitch your project one-on-one OR 2) Jeffrey Davis' workshop The Story Beyond the Book: Why Branding with Integrity Matters More than Ever

Susan Gleason, Susan Gleason Literary Agency

All content on this website is copyright protected and may not be reproduced without permission of the IWWG.